After pushing at the boundaries of jazz into the fusion-heavy 1970’s, a new acquisition offered an opportunity to walk back a decade or more, to early beginnings of Blue Note, and the brief career of Jutta Hipp. Selection: Dear Old Stockholm … Continue reading →

Straying over the boundaries of 50s/60s jazz, putting a toe into the early ’70s, turning the focus back home to Britain, and the influence of expatriate African jazz musicians on the evolving British jazz scene. Think: Londonjazzcollector. British jazz started … Continue reading →

To continue the theme of British Jazz, now expanded to 1963-74, the second double album compiled by DJ of French origin, Gilles Peterson, Impressed 2 released on vinyl in 2004. Nice cover segue, with a second thumb print, it’s all … Continue reading →

Not everything is as it seems. A post on sketchy identities, confusion, possibly even deception. It introduces a relatively unknown British jazz artist named Scott. Not Tony, not Ronnie, but…Johnny. And even that’s not his real name. Follow the twists and turns in another jazz mystery tour. … Continue reading →

An uncommercial island, Stanley Cowell and Charles Tolliver’s Strata East Records, stubbornly surrounded by increasingly commercial waters, making music to satisfy its core listening audience rather college boys and the bachelor demographic, who had moved on elsewhere. Venturing further into … Continue reading →

With a lot of attention here currently on Blue Note Liberty labels, I thought it would be a good to take a break and dip into some jazz closer to home, Europe, with a record I picked up recently, a … Continue reading →

Selection: One Second, Please (Hope) . Whilst the standard pick on The Fox is… The Fox, a helter-skelter chase at breakneck speed, it has a “showcase” feel, look how fast we can play this tricksy tune, plus I already chose … Continue reading →

Selection: Laker’s Day (Baseball and basketball fans may want to skip this section) . Tubby Hayes dedicates his second guest spot, Laker’s Day, to English cricketer Jim Laker – who just that day had taken a record 19 wickets in one day against … Continue reading →

An outing to a place not often on the LJC jazz itinerary,” free jazz/ high energy genre”, and nominations for The Ten Best Covers of a Jazz Record. (UPDATE: see reader nominations at end of post) Selection: Sorry ’bout that … Continue reading →

Allergy advice: this record contains no Steve Hoffman or Music Matters engineering, but may contain traces of British Jazz nuts. Selection: Lay By (Ellington/Strayhorn) from Suite Thursday.Tony Coe pulling off a passable impersonation of a Paul Gonsalves smeared-sax solo. . Another selection: In … Continue reading →

A short break from American Jazz and a brief excursion into the embryonic British Jazz Scene of the late ’50s with an unlikely American connection. On a British label called Ember, often found in thrift shops, but which on this occasion turns up … Continue reading →

Some weeks ago, I reviewed BLP 4092 The Golden Eight (Toshiba 1991 re). In an unexpected turn of events, I find myself reviewing it again. But this time no jokes about lederhosen: the more serious business of modern audiophile reissues. I previously declared … Continue reading →

We have recently dug deep into the 10″” jazz of the middle ’50s. Now it is 1969, time for a gear shift up into the soul-jazz era of the late ’60s. Change you can hear. Track Selection: Hot Dog (Donaldson) . . … Continue reading →

One of the few Blue Note recordings made outside the US ( Dexter Gordon in Paris, Dizzy Reece and Tubby Hayes in London, perhaps you know of others). Blue Note does Yrup, next stop, Cologne (Köln, not the after-shave). Produced by Italian … Continue reading →

Five Selections: your five-a-day portions of jazz, for a healthy listening diet. I provide a sample from an album, they provide a sample from an album, I figure if its good enough for them it’s good enough for me too. Artists: … Continue reading →

With Hogmanay fast approaching, it’s Brit-night at LJC. Up first a timely introduction to one of Scotland’s finest jazz exports, Jimmy Deuchar, in the company of some of Britain’s finest jazz musicians five decades ago. Following which you will be introduced … Continue reading →